KWLUG - The Kitchener Waterloo Linux User Group - Referencehttp://kwlug.org/taxonomy/term/174/0
enGNU social presentation noteshttp://kwlug.org/node/1012
<p>Hi all: I've completed my presentation notes; if you have any questions, confusions, clarifications or requests for additional stuff let me know by about 3:00pm on Monday.</p>
<p>See you all Monday night! Bring your laptops, phones, and other web-enabled devices so you can join in the demonstration.</p>
<p>--Bob.<br />
<a href="mailto:bjonkman@sobac.com" title="Send e-mail to Bob Jonkman">bjonkman@sobac.com</a></p>
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GNUsocialnotespresentationReferenceMon, 07 Dec 2015 05:56:23 +0000BobJonkman1012 at http://kwlug.orgContinuing Adventures with Ubuntu and Apachehttp://kwlug.org/node/989
<p>Continuing Adventures with Ubuntu and Apache.<br />
In a previous blog post "Installing LAMP on Ubuntu 11.04 aka The Natty Narwhal" I documented my start with Ubuntu and the Apache webserver suite.<br />
see: http://kwlug.org/node/824</p>
<p>This blog post was updated a few times as the installation was updated.<br />
Recently, I went through another update exercise and instead of updating the previous blog post, I elected to make another blog post.</p>
<p>I am sure that this is "old hat" to many on this list.<br />
But this work is not "old hat" to me.<br />
And I would suspect that I am not alone in this.</p>
<p>As I recall, the previous updates to Ubuntu and especially to Apache were not trouble free.<br />
I had been running Ubuntu 12.04 LTS since the last update in 20140525 or so.<br />
(My bad: The other blog post does not explicitly say when 12.04 LTS was up and running.)<br />
For some time I had been seeing Ubuntu notices that 14.04 was available. And when I tried to execute the update I saw an error message informing me that the Apache webserver was interfering with the update process. Fearing having a broken system I deferred the update for a while.</p>
<p>A few days ago, I bit the bullet and decided to update both Ubuntu and Apache starting with Ubuntu.<br />
To update Ubuntu and according to various bits of advice on stackoverflow, askubuntu, apachefriends and elsewhere I needed to disable the Apache webserver.<br />
ref: sudo service apache2 stop<br />
ref: sudo update-rc.d apache2 disable<br />
After a few runs at the update exercise the update from Ubuntu 12.04 LTS to 14.04 LTS was successful. The reasons why a few runs at the update exercise and details of which now elude me.</p>
<p>It may be needless to say that the the update to 14.04 LTS was not smooth as it could be.<br />
But compared to the exercise in updating Apache the Ubuntu update was a whole lot smoother. </p>
<p>Restarting the Apache webserver was successful.<br />
ref: sudo update-rc.d apache2 enable<br />
ref: sudo service apache2 start</p>
<p>Continuing with the Apache update is where I ran into some real troubles.<br />
Recalling that I had troubles with Apache updates over the past few years I saved a copy of /etc/apache2 in /usr (i.e. outside of /etc).<br />
Again referring to the usual reference websites (see above) I executed apt-get.<br />
ref: sudo apt-get install apache2<br />
And, as I feared, I wound up with a broken system.</p>
<p>Apache simply would not start and, at times, would return error messages like:<br />
The following packages have unmet dependencies: [ edit ]<br />
Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.<br />
The error messages referred to problems with the installation of php5.<br />
Using our old sage, The Google, I looked for advice.<br />
Somewhere there was a suggestion to use aptitude instead of apt-get.<br />
No luck.</p>
<p>After attempting some repairs I trashed the broken /etc/apache2 installation.<br />
And attempted to attempted a fresh install, again using apt-get.<br />
And, in another run at this, using aptitude.<br />
Result: "you have held broken packages" and again with references to php5.</p>
<p>I attempted to restore /etc/apache2 from a git repo created and maintained by etckeeper.<br />
(Ref: discussions re: etckeeper in the KWLUG email list. And thanks to all who contributed.)<br />
Result: "you have held broken packages" and again with references to php5.<br />
Evidently, the issues with php5 are outside of /etc/apache2</p>
<p>I was not having much success with these repairs and looked again to The Google.<br />
And I came across an entry about ppa repositories and how these can interfere with apt-get and aptitude.<br />
ref: http://askubuntu.com/questions/540423/libapache2-mod-php5-depends-php5-common<br />
After running through the advice given near the end of this askubuntu post it looked like the issues with php5 were solved.<br />
And after I restarting the Apache webserver (an important step) the Apache webserver was running without errors.</p>
<p>Testing with /var/www/test.php containing &lt;?php phpinfo(); ?&gt; and executing FF: //http:/localhost/test.php.<br />
The Apache phpinfo page is displayed.</p>
<p>Success.<br />
My Linux PC is now running Ubuntu 14.04 LTS.<br />
And Apache 2.4.7 is running - with php5</p>
<p>Notes:<br />
The apache2.conf file in the new install of /etc/apache2 does not have any of the local configurations that were in the configuration file prior to the update.<br />
TODO: Restore the apache2.conf file as required from either the saved copy of the old /etc/apache2 or from the git repo created and maintained by etckeeper.<br />
From a tip as seen on askubuntu re: fqdn below:<br />
"It's a personal preference that keeps my configuration changes separated from the distribution package. So updates are less complicated."<br />
Ref:<br />
sudo update-rc.d apache2 &lt; enable : disable &gt;<br />
sudo service apache2 &lt; start | stop | restart &gt;<br />
Re: errors with servers-fully-qualified-domain-name<br />
see: http://askubuntu.com/questions/256013/could-not-reliably-determine-the-servers-fully-qualified-domain-name<br />
service apache2 restart<br />
Restarting web server apache2<br />
apache2: Could not reliably determine the server's fully qualified domain name, using 127.0.1.1 for ServerName<br />
Ubuntu 14.04:<br />
echo "ServerName localhost" | sudo tee /etc/apache2/conf-available/fqdn.conf<br />
sudo a2enconf fqdn<br />
Re: etckeeper<br />
From the KWLUG list:<br />
http://joey.kitenet.net/code/etckeeper/<br />
On 2010-02-26 13:08, Andrew Cant wrote (re: etckeeper)<br />
&gt; So I have not see any big benefits yet, but it requires little effort<br />
&gt; to maintain, and having the history of my changes makes me happy.</p>
ReferenceUbuntu ApacheSun, 26 Jul 2015 09:45:20 +0000JohnJ989 at http://kwlug.orgThe Raspberry Pi revitalized my inner geekhttp://kwlug.org/node/889
<p>As a single guy (AKA geek) just out of school, I tried to keep up on all the cool and upcoming tech. Over the past 15 years, I got married, had a kid, had several different roles at work and pursued a few different hobbies which steered me away from a lot of the fun I used to have with technology. I kept up enough to be proficient at work and to be the go-to tech guy of friends and family but I didn't have the drive or time to experiment as much.</p>
<p>The Raspberry Pi has piqued my interest again in some experimentation. It's an affordable way to mess around with a cool piece of technology and teach others about programming, hardware and open source software. I noticed the next meeting will be discussing the Pi so I won't go into it too much - attend the meeting to find out more. I may see you there if I get off work early enough.</p>
ARMlinuxRaspberry PiRaspbianReferenceThu, 27 Dec 2012 03:49:07 +0000gelgie889 at http://kwlug.orgVideo editing using ffmpeg and ImageMagickhttp://kwlug.org/node/854
<p>Sometimes, you want to edit multiple videos in a similar way. For that, I've found that the best way is to create a script that you can run consistently on those videos and get a consistent ouptut. For example, recordings from a conference or a day by day video log of your family vacation.</p>
<p>I have created some scripts using ffmpeg and ImageMagick for my some of my videos, saving me hours in the process.</p>
<p>The main advantages I've found are:</p>
<ul>
<li>Consistency: I don't have to remember what I did to a video. It is all in the script</li>
<li>Time savings: Execute the script with the right parameters and go for dinner, let the computer work.</li>
<li>Control: I can execute just a portion of the script, play around with the options and be limited only by my imagination.</li>
</ul>
<p>In this posts I will show some of the commands I've found most useful, these are very basic commands that can be improved by people more creative than me.</p>
<p>For this example I will use a script I created to edit my Toastmasters videos. You can find the full script attached to this post along with an explanation of each one of the components of the script</p>
<p>To test the script, just extract the attached sample file and execute the following command</p>
<p><code>./VideoEdit.sh sample.prm</code></p>
<p>This script does the following:</p>
<ol>
<li>Creates a few seconds of introduction video with a still image and information about the video (Title, speaker, date, etc)</li>
<li>Creates a few seconds of closing video with a still image and credits and disclaimers</li>
<li>Extracts a portion of the input video for editing as individual PNG frames</li>
<li>Fades out the introduction image into the first 3 seconds of video</li>
<li>Overlays some slides at certain points in the video</li>
<li>Reassembles the video from the modified frames. adds the audio and attaches the introduction and closing.</li>
</ol>
<p>It receives as parameters a file that contains the actual editing parameters: </p>
<ul>
<li>INPUTFILE : Path to the file we want to edit</li>
<li>LOGO : Path to a file that will serve as the cover for the introduction</li>
<li>LOGOLENGHT : Lenght in seconds in which the introduction should show</li>
<li>SPEAKER : Name of the speaker</li>
<li>TITLE : Title of the speach</li>
<li>DATE : Date of the speach</li>
<li>SCENESTART : Time where the section of video I want to extract starts (can be as ss or as hh:mm:ss.fff)</li>
<li>SCENEDURATION : Time where the section of video I want to extract ends (can be as ss or as hh:mm:ss.fff)</li>
<li>PROJECT : Short name for the project. It will be used to name temporary files and the output file</li>
</ul>
<p>Here is an example of my parameters file:<br />
<code><br />
INPUTFILE="/media/cdrom0/VIDEO_TS/VTS_01_1.VOB"<br />
LOGO="../TM-titleLogo.png"<br />
LOGOLENGHT="5"<br />
SPEAKER="Raul Suarez"<br />
TITLE="The dreaded empty page"<br />
DATE="July 28, 2011"<br />
SCENESTART="00:06:58"<br />
SCENEDURATION="00:07:20"<br />
OUTPUTFILE="TM2"<br />
</code><br />
<strong>Extract Video:</strong><br />
Extracts a portion of video from the input file converting the video to frame files one PNG file per frame and splitting the audio to to an mp3 file<br />
<code><br />
mkdir -p "${OUTPUTFILE}-frames"<br />
ffmpeg -loglevel quiet -threads 4 \<br />
-i ${INPUTFILE} -ss ${SCENESTART} -t ${SCENEDURATION} \<br />
-f image2 -y "${OUTPUTFILE}-frames"/frame%d.png \<br />
-acodec copy -sameq -y "${OUTPUTFILE}.mp3"<br />
</code><br />
<cite><br />
-loglevel : defines how verbose I want the console output<br />
-threads : If allows using multiple cores in a multicore processor. Can speed up some tasks<br />
-i : The name of the input file<br />
-ss : Indicates when does the segment of video we want start<br />
-t : Indicates the duration of the segment of video we want<br />
-f : Format of the output. In this case the format is image as we are extracting to one frame per file<br />
-y : Overwrites files without asking<br />
"${OUTPUTFILE}-frames"/frame%d.png : This part of the command tells ffmpeg to extract each frame to a file named frame1.png, frame2.png, etc<br />
-acodec copy : extract the audio without re-encoding<br />
-sameq : do not loose quality (may not be necessary here but I left it just in case)<br />
"${OUTPUTFILE}.mp3" : is the name of the audio file we are saving<br />
</cite><br />
I could have done this with three commands, which is more readable, but takes more time<br />
<code><br />
# Extract the video<br />
ffmpeg -i ${INPUTFILE} -ss ${SCENESTART} -t ${SCENEDURATION} \<br />
-acodec copy -vcodec copy -sameq -y "${OUTPUTFILE}-1.mpg"<br />
</code><code><br />
# Split the audio to preserve it<br />
ffmpeg -i "${OUTPUTFILE}-1.mpg" -acodec copy -sameq -y "${OUTPUTFILE}.mp3"<br />
</code><code><br />
# Convert the video to frame files one PNG file per frame<br />
mkdir -p frames<br />
ffmpeg -i "${OUTPUTFILE}-1.mpg" -f image2 -y frames/frame%d.png<br />
</code></p>
<p><strong>Create Introduction</strong><br />
Uses the ImageMagick convert command to create the introduction image by merging the logo file with the titles for the video<br />
<code><br />
convert ${LOGO} -gravity Center -font DejaVu-Sans-Book \<br />
-pointsize 20 -fill gray -draw "text 1,21 'Talk of the Town Toastmasters'" \<br />
-fill white -draw "text 0,20 'Talk of the Town Toastmasters'" \<br />
-pointsize 50 -fill gray -draw "text 2,72 '${SPEAKER}'" \<br />
-fill white -draw "text 0,70 '${SPEAKER}'" \<br />
-pointsize 30 -fill gray -draw "text 1,131 '${TITLE}'" \<br />
-fill white -draw "text 0,130 '${TITLE}'" \<br />
-pointsize 20 -fill gray -draw "text 1,171 '${DATE}'" \<br />
-fill white -draw "text 0,170 '${DATE}'" \<br />
"${OUTPUTFILE}-intro.png"<br />
</code><br />
ImageMagick can, in a single instruction add multiple lines of text. It has different ways of doing this. For this example I used the "draw" command. To see other methods you can go to <a href="http://www.imagemagick.org/Usage/text/">http://www.imagemagick.org/Usage/text/</a></p>
<p>This command gets the ${LOGO} file and overlays the text on top of it. </p>
<p>As you can see in this example, I have two "draw" commands for each line, I do this to create a "gray shadow" effect on the text.</p>
<p>The resulting image will be saved as "${OUTPUTFILE}-intro.png"</p>
<p><strong>Create video from an image adding a silent sound track</strong><br />
<code><br />
ffmpeg -loglevel quiet -threads 4 \<br />
-loop_input -i "${OUTPUTFILE}-intro.png" -qscale 1 -r 29.97 -t ${LOGOLENGHT} \<br />
-ar 48000 -t ${LOGOLENGHT} -f s16le -acodec pcm_s16le -i /dev/zero -ab 64K -f mp2 -acodec mp2 \<br />
-map 0.0 -map 1.0 -sameq -f mpegts -y "${OUTPUTFILE}-intro.mpg"<br />
</code><br />
The first section of the command defines the video portion of the file<br />
<cite><br />
-loop_input will loop over the following file to create the output<br />
-r : The output video will be 29.97 frames per second. This is the framerate for NTSC<br />
</cite><br />
The second portion defines the audio portion of the file: The silence. It is important to add a sound track or we will have problems concatenating at the end.<br />
<cite><br />
-ar : audio sampling frequency of the audio<br />
-f : format, Note how when the format and codec are before -i, they refer to the input format, if they are after, they refer to the ouptut format.<br />
-acodec : Audio codec<br />
-i /dev/zero : This is where we take the "silence". Of course, if you want a real audio file you can use it here.<br />
-ab : Audio bitrate<br />
</cite><br />
Finally we assemble the input video and audio into the ouput file<br />
<cite><br />
-map : These map parameters say: take the first channel of the first input (video) and the first channel of the second input (audio)<br />
(I've explained the rest of the parameters in previous commands)<br />
</cite><br />
This is equivalent to the following three commands<br />
<code><br />
# create proper lenght of silence<br />
ffmpeg -ar 48000 -t ${LOGOLENGHT} -f s16le -acodec pcm_s16le -i /dev/zero -ab 64K -f mp2 -acodec ac3 -y silence.mp2<br />
</code><code><br />
# Create still logo video<br />
ffmpeg -loop_input -i "${OUTPUTFILE}-Logo.png" -qscale 1 -r 29.97 -t ${LOGOLENGHT} -y -f mpegts "${OUTPUTFILE}-logo1.mpg"<br />
</code><code><br />
# Assemble still logo and silence<br />
ffmpeg -loglevel error -i "${OUTPUTFILE}-logo1.mpg" -i "silence.mp2" \<br />
-vcodec copy -acodec copy -map 0.0 -map 1.0 -sameq -threads 4 \<br />
-y -f mpegts "${OUTPUTFILE}-intro.mpg"<br />
</code></p>
<p>The exit video is created in a similar way</p>
<p><strong>FadeOut introduction</strong><br />
You may be wondering why we extracted all the frames to PNG files. The main reason is that it allows us to manipulate them however we want using ImageMagick. We can rotate them, mix, change colors, add overlays. Your imagination is the limit.</p>
<p>In this case I am disolving the intro image progressivelly into the corresponding input video frames.<br />
<code><br />
mkdir -p "${OUTPUTFILE}-frames2"<br />
for i in {1..90}; do<br />
percent=$(echo "scale=3; ${i}*100/90" | bc )<br />
convert -compose dissolve -gravity center -define compose:args=${percent} \<br />
-composite "${OUTPUTFILE}-intro.png" "${OUTPUTFILE}-frames"/frame${i}.png "${OUTPUTFILE}-frames2"/frame${i}.png<br />
done<br />
</code><br />
<cite><br />
for i in {1..90} : The loop will operate in the first 90 frames (3 seconds at 29.97 frames per second ~ 90 )<br />
percent=$(echo "scale=3; ${i}*100/90" | bc ) : calculates the percentage we want to use to disolve. From 0 to 100% in 90 steps<br />
The convert command disolves the "intro" image into each of the frames applying the corresponding disolve percentage.<br />
Each of the resulting frames is written to another temporary folder.<br />
</cite></p>
<p><strong>Overlay an image</strong><br />
If you want to overlay an image on a section of video, you need to calculate the starting and ending frames so you can loop through those images doing the overlay:</p>
<p>I created a function to do the overlay, so I can overlay different images at different points in the video:<br />
<code><br />
overlayImage () {<br />
# Overlays an image on top of each frame in a range.<br />
FILE="${1}"<br />
GRAVITY=$2<br />
START_FRAME=$(echo "scale=0; ${3}*29.97/1" | bc )<br />
END_FRAME=$(echo "scale=0; ${4}*29.97/1" | bc )<br />
</code><code><br />
for (( i=${START_FRAME} ; i&lt;=${END_FRAME} ; i++ )) ; do<br />
convert -compose dissolve -gravity ${GRAVITY} -define compose:args=90 \<br />
-composite "${OUTPUTFILE}-frames"/frame${i}.png "${FILE}" "${OUTPUTFILE}-frames2"/frame${i}.png<br />
done<br />
}<br />
</code><br />
The overlayImage function receives as parameters</p>
<ul>
<li>The image we want to overlay</li>
<li>The relative positioning (gravity)</li>
<li>The start time on the section of video in seconds</li>
<li>The end time of the section of video in seconds</li>
</ul>
<p><cite>The loop disolves the overlay image into each of the frames for the section of video we want<br />
</cite><br />
<strong>Reassemble the video</strong><br />
<code><br />
# Copy the modified frames on top of the original frames<br />
cp "${OUTPUTFILE}-frames2"/frame*.png "${OUTPUTFILE}-frames"<br />
</code><code><br />
# Reassembles the frames and the audio into an output video<br />
ffmpeg -loglevel quiet -threads 4 \<br />
-r 29.97 -f image2 -i "${OUTPUTFILE}-frames"/frame%d.png \<br />
-i "${OUTPUTFILE}.mp3" -acodec copy \<br />
-map 0.0 -map 1.0 -sameq -f mpegts -y "${OUTPUTFILE}.mpg"<br />
</code><code><br />
# Concatenates the introduction, video and closing<br />
ffmpeg -loglevel quiet -threads 4 \<br />
-i concat:"${OUTPUTFILE}-intro.mpg"\|"${OUTPUTFILE}.mpg"\|"${OUTPUTFILE}-exit.mpg" \<br />
-r 29.97 -sameq -y "${OUTPUTFILE}.mp4"<br />
</code></p>
<p>And that's it. As you can see, with small modifications to these commands you can edit your video however you want.</p>
<p>If you search the internet you will find plenty of examples for ffmpeg for example<br />
<a href="http://www.catswhocode.com/blog/19-ffmpeg-commands-for-all-needs">http://www.catswhocode.com/blog/19-ffmpeg-commands-for-all-needs</a></p>
<p>While the ImageMagick documentation is the best source for more examples.<br />
<a href="http://www.imagemagick.org/Usage/">http://www.imagemagick.org/Usage/</a></p>
<p>While you can do it using a GUI video editor such as Kino, Cinelerra or final cut. I found that the flexibility and repeatability of scripting it simplified my life. </p>
<p>I hope it simplifies yours too.</p>
<p>If you have any comments you can email me at</p>
<p>rarsa --at-- yahoo.com</p>
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ffmpegHow-ToImageMagickReferenceTutorialvideoSun, 13 Nov 2011 23:44:48 +0000Raul Suarez854 at http://kwlug.orgLinux Mint Isadora KDE i386 first impressionshttp://kwlug.org/node/761
<p>This time I decided to install Linux Mint Isadora KDE version. This may sound unfair based my previous review of Mandriva as I've been using Linux Mint for several releases but this is the first time I will use the KDE version, though. </p>
<p>I promise I'll try to be as picky and as unbiased as I possibly can.</p>
<p>The first thing that surprised me is that, although for the Gnome version there is a Live CD which is just 674 MB and a Live DVD which is 763, There is only a DVD version for KDE a whopping 1.3 GB. Still better than other distributions which are 2 to 4 GB. </p>
<p>I downloaded the DVD version which is a Live version. Upon booting I got a normal KDE screen with the Linux Mint background and a Install Linux Mint icon on the desktop folder. The screen looks clean, nothing earth shattering. But it is noticeable that it started on my card/monitor recommended resolution, not the maximum. </p>
<p>In the menu I can see that in includes a large number of applications, I may need to do some clean up after I'm done. For example, It even comes with Wine which I never use. I hope it only installs a basic set of applications.</p>
<p>I tried to use some of the utilities but they weren't configured on the Live CD. so I'll proceed to install by double clicking on the icon.</p>
<p>The installation is quite clean and clear. Quite visual with a very simple language.</p>
<p>Oops, the partition editor cuts the name of the partitions, I can only see /dev/sd... so I need to resize the columns.</p>
<p>A couple of questions and the installation starts. Hey, wait a second. It never asked me if I wanted to install the boot loader or where I wanted to install it. I Don't remember missing that question and if I did then it is not very clear where the option is. </p>
<p>The installation took less than 10 minutes and I reboot... At least the boot loader found all my installations. </p>
<p>Initial boot speed is good but KDE logging is very slow.</p>
<p>Upon boot I am welcomed by a message saying that I have 82 updates I accept them and the update starts. All the messages are very short and clear. </p>
<p>While it installs I browse the menus. Oh, no! all the applications were installed. Maybe that's good for some, but now I know why there is only a large DVD version. This version of Mint comes with the kitchen sink. Not a criticism. just an observation.</p>
<p>Dragon Player<br />
VLC<br />
MPlayer<br />
Amarok<br />
Songbird<br />
KsCD</p>
<p>Each one a great player, but should they include them all? I don't think so.</p>
<p>When I execute dragon Player it very nicely advises me that there are packages that may improve my experience. I accept and... what? it failed? I know it failed because the update manager was already running. I think that there should have been a clearer message telling me that I couldn't install it until the other application finished.</p>
<p>It's time to go to bed but I'll continue reporting tomorrow.</p>
<p>I just got distracted watching a movie. It is nice to have a distro that you can start using as soon as you finish installing it.</p>
http://kwlug.org/node/761#commentsisadoraKDElinuxMintReferenceFri, 20 Aug 2010 04:15:58 +0000Raul Suarez761 at http://kwlug.orgWeb conferencinghttp://kwlug.org/node/714
<p>All the tools and methods described on the previous posts work very well with a small number of people sharing a desktop or collaborating, given that access must be granted and computer addresses shared, they work well within a trusted group. </p>
<p>For situations where you need to collaborate with "untrusted" people or with a large number of people, the best option is to use web conferencing software.</p>
<p><img src="/sites/kwlug.org/files/webconferencing.jpg" /></p>
<p>As the slide indicates there are many on line providers where you can subscribe either for free or small monthly fee and you can start hosting conferences on their servers. There are a few with Linux Clients, some "even" allow to share the Linux desktop.</p>
<p>Here are some examples of hosted services:</p>
<ul>
<li><a target="_blank" href="http://www.dimdim.com">DimDim</a>: Free/Paid, no Linux desktop Sharing, FLOSS version</li>
<li><a target="_blank" href="http://www.elluminate.com/">Elluminate</a>: Free trial/Paid, Full platform support, hosted</li>
<li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.yugma.com/">Yugma</a>: Free/Paid, Full Linux support, hosted</li>
<li>Follow <a target="_blank" href="http://www.kolabora.com/news/2007/06/22/web_conferencing_tools_and_technology.htm">this link</a> for a miniguide to web conferencing tools</li>
</ul>
<p>The market is moving so fast that I'm expecting that this list will grow and change quite rapidly in the next few years.</p>
<p>For the KWLUG presentation I decided to focus on two Free Software applications, <a target="_blank" href="http://code.google.com/p/openmeetings//">OpenMeetings</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.webhuddle.co/">WebHuddle</a>, which can be hosted on your own servers, branded, and otherwise modified.</p>
<p><strong><a target="_blank" href="http://code.google.com/p/openmeetings//">OpenMeetings</a>:</strong>
<ul>
<li>UI implemented in OpenLaszlo compiled to Adobe Flash</li>
<li>Desktop sharing implemented in Java</li>
<li>Document sharing, white board, Desktop Sharing, Audio/Video conferencing</li>
<li>Ideal for intranet conferencing</li>
<li>Runs under <a target="_blank" href="http://osflash.org/red5">Red5</a> (Flash media server)</li>
</ul>
</p><p><img src="/sites/kwlug.org/files/openmeetings.jpg" /></p>
<p>Pros:
<ul>
<li>Nice interface</li>
<li>Skinable</li>
<li>Actively developed</li>
<li>Administrator manages rooms and user permissions the rooms. Specific users have access to specific rooms</li>
<li>Two different types of rooms: Audience (Moderated), Conference (non-moderated)</li>
<li>Very light on the server side</li>
<li>No viewer installation required (Installation required to share the desktop or to use the Flash viewer)</li>
<li>Allows sharing MS Office and OpenOffice documents</li>
<li>Documents can be uploaded by any presenter while in a meeting</li>
<li>Supports LDAP authentication.</li>
</ul>
</p><p>Cons:
<ul>
<li>Users must have a Flash and Java enabled browser</li>
<li>Resource intensive and slow on the client side due to the Flash implementation</li>
<li>All users must register. (you can create a "generic" id but any person using it may change the generic ID profile, including the password)</li>
<li>No remote control</li>
</ul>
</p><p><strong><a target="_blank" href="https://www.webhuddle.co/">WebHuddle</a></strong>
<ul>
<li>Implemented in Java</li>
<li>Document sharing, white board, Desktop Sharing, Audio conferencing</li>
<li>Ideal for intranet/extranet conferencing</li>
<li>Not under active development but it is not a dead project. It's a solid finished product. The original developer still answers questions in the <a target="_blank" href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/webhuddle/support">forum</a>.</li>
<li>Runs under <a target="_blank" href="http://www.jboss.com/">Jboss</a> (Flash media server)</li>
</ul>
</p><p><img src="/sites/kwlug.org/files/webhuddle.jpg" /></p>
<p>Pros:
<ul>
<li>Simple interface</li>
<li>Non-registered users can join meetings. Users must know the host's email and the meeting's password</li>
<li>Very light on the client side</li>
<li>Very light on the server side</li>
<li>Allows sharing a screen region instead of the whole screen</li>
<li>Offers meeting recording functionality</li>
<li>Supports LDAP authentication.</li>
</ul>
</p><p>Cons:
<ul>
<li>Users must have a Java enabled browser</li>
<li>No functionality to recover a forgotten password. (although there is a workaround)</li>
<li>No video sharing</li>
<li>Only allows ppt, sxi (old open office) and gif/jpeg files</li>
<li>Shared documents can only be uploaded by the meeting owner before the meeting starts</li>
<li>No remote control.</li>
</ul>
</p><p><strong>Summary</strong><br />
Web conferencing is an excellent collaboration technique for distributed groups as well as a great medium for presentations to remotely dispersed audiences.</p>
<p>Whether you set up the server yourself or you use a vendor hosted solution, you can be sure that there are options for Linux, try them, you have nothing to loose and a whole lot to gain.</p>
<p>On the next two posts I will show you how to install the two servers described in this post.</p>
http://kwlug.org/node/714#commentsdimdimelluminateopenmeetingsReferenceremote accessremote collaborationwebconferencingwebhuddleyugmaTue, 29 Dec 2009 06:15:50 +0000Raul Suarez714 at http://kwlug.org